Today, I've decided to write an entry to explain, once and for all.

I've had enough of "Jess! What happened to your hair?" and "OMG Jess did you cut all your hair off?" all month.

This is what happened

I don't remember replacing my glorious long red hair with burnt, fried grass/hay 🙁

If you've been reading TheJessicat.com for a while, you would know that I've been a red-head for 6 years now. 

Yep, I know that's an awfully long time. Check out all my hair escapades – here

But this trademark has since set to become my image and signature look already, hence I decided to keep it.

After my trip to attend Hennessy Artistry in Penang, I went to a hair salon to re-bleach my hair and give it some hair treatment. 

The stylist managed to convince me to get my hair permed so I could have permanent curls.

Seeing that I like wavy/curled hair and frequently tong my hair by myself when I attend events, I relented and got my hair permed.

It turned out disastrous.

It was frizzy, unmanageable & felt like dried grass to the touch & smelt burnt

It may look fine in the photos, but trust me, it's not.

Friends of mine who saw how terribly destroyed my hair was, were horrified.

The texture was just ruined and calling it brittle would be giving it too much credit. 

Bottom line, my crowning glory wasted away before my eyes.

For days, I cried & slapped on serum, conditioner, repair creams & everything I could do to salvage the little glimmer of hope I harboured.

When everything was proven futile, a day came when I could no longer stand it…..

I grabbed the 1st scizzors I could find and chopped everything off

And then I *still* wasn't satisfied. So, I took the same scizzors & went SNIPSNIPSNIP again

Doesn't look too shabby at all, right? 😀 I kinda like it!

It made me happy for a week, until I realized how I just cannot be seen with uneven, self-cut hair which was deliberately chopped off out of despair! I wanted something more professionally done & urban-looking.

So I landed myself in another hair salon to have it done properly

Ready?

SNIPSNIP BUZZBUZZ WHIRRWHIRR

The end product (back view). What do you think? 😀

Front view

I think I'm adapting to this prissy, sleek haircut so far

9/10 of my friends, family, readers and strangers' response were positive

YAY!!! 😀 😀 Looks like my nightmarish ordeal was finally over

My stylist told me that I should give my hair a rest and not bleach + dye it red for a while to allow my hair to recuperate and replenish its strength.

Well, it sure deserved that much needed rest after being fried and burnt like discarded toast.

Never in my life, would I have imagined myself donning a haircut THIS SHORT.

But there was nothing left I could do. Looks like I took matters in my own hands this time – literally!

For now, I shall just continue to help it repair & regenerate by itself. 

But if I'm feeling cheeky, the redhead will be back sooner than ya think! 

When mid-year comes around, it has been a yearly ritual for me to throw a birthday celebration and document it somewhere somehow on this blog.

Ushering in the 1st of July with the company of my friends and family serves as a reminder to me of how blessed I am to have these special bunch in my life.

Birthday eve 

Despite being occupied and busy with everyone's respective schedules, I made it a point to meet up with the ones dear to me (and the ones whom I've not seen for a long time!) on the eve of my birthday. 

What could be a better reason for catching up for a sit down gathering over yummy food & some drinks?   

BIRTHDAYS.   

For the ones reading TheJessicat.com for a long time now, you have seen me grow (or perhaps even grow with me!) from the birthdays I spent as an innocent high-school kid, to an angsty scene-punk teenager up until my party-hard days as a young adult. 

For the new readers out there, hiya! The archive of all the birthdays I've spent are here

A birthday kiss! One of the many birthday presents he showered me with this year 

That's another one 

They were lovely. Couldn't help it 😀

Despite being still baked from last night's waywardness, I made it to my birthday celebration at Antipodean Cafe @ Bangsar, albeit a tad late. 

It was great to see how all my (early) guests were already talking and made friends amongst each other!   

The 12 of us at dinner!

I called upon the waiter to bring out the food-for-sharing I ordered on top of our individual main meals at the table.  

Had chosen 2 bowls of Potato Salad, 2 bowls of Spinach & Mushroom Alfredo Pasta and 2 plates of Rendang Chicken Satay for all!

The thought of these delights makes me wanna go there again! 😀

Chit-chatting & catching up over dinner! 

So glad to see KK & Chia Li! 

Loads of laughter too! 

Current housemates X former housemates!

Neither of us could finish the food left on the table 

Finishing our individual portions was hard enough, let alone finishing the food-for-sharing.

I was really stuffed  Half of my Smoked Salmon Omelette had to go to waste argh.

But then again, all of us had space for the delicious Chocolate Indulgence birthday cake teehee!

Did someone say…. CAAAAAAAAAKE? 

Thank you so much, Antipodean Cafe for a good night!  Also, much love to all my wonderful guests who turned up & spent time with me on my birthday eve dinner 

It meant a lot to me to see all of you tonight despite my last minute invitation. I've been enduring lots of trouble recently; handling depression as a victim of an in-house theft and busy shifting into my new apartment.

Thank you so much for all your presents too! 

Sorry, some of the presents were somewhere else at the time I snapped this photo! T_T

More piccies of the night :

The other half Konzycakes and I 

My gurlies, Pamela & Venessa

Going all the way back since high school – Kok Kwan & Chia Li 

My beautiful buddy Anis who's always there for me 

Daaaaaaazzzaaa Darryl! My kittyboy Chivas' guardian angel 

The last few that stayed till the end!

Enroute to Zouk in Sam's car!

Just before midnight, we adjourned to the after-party! I was given a guestlist for my birthday thanks to Zouk 

Being the EDM-kaki I am, I decided to hold it in Zouk Mainroom in conjunction with LOUD's Blink & Goldfish's 2nd Year Anniversary. Wootwoot! 

Music was fabulous

My guests & I got into Zouk Mainroom and I popped open a Johnnie Walker Black Label for the night.

Let's fire away! 

Tonight's beats consisted of lots of electronica big room, trance, house, dubstep & mixed turntablism

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSa1sM_nwiI

Thanks to theboyf, he recorded some footage of the night.

(Watch it for the audio & only some bits of us dancing – the lighting was inadequate duh!) 🙂

The DJs went on mercilessly with their epic drops & beats

Here are some of the photos from the after-party.

Bombs away!

My EDM music kakis – in trance we believe!

And one metalhead in the background photobombing us LOL

Wootwoot!

My babe Evelyn and I! 

How time flies! We celebrated a joint birthday together right here in Zouk in 2009!

Spent the rest of the night headbanging & popping

Although not a fan of EDM music, Anis was such a great sport too!

Pammy & I in our element 

Finally Edwin appeared! We thought he dropped dead after last night's shenanigans :O

But so glad to see you are fine & ACTUALLY turned up to my party!

Joanne & I!

I think this is our 1st time partying together… for ONCE & not seeing each other in classrooms!

Drop it like it's hot!

We go a looooong way back, ey? 😀

So have Sam & I 😀 😀

A "childhood friends" photo! My Penang-kiaaaaaaas!

My couzzies Shaun & Meng dropped by too!

Ohhh hello Yong Sern! 😀 😀

I love my friends.

Moar people!

Throughout the night, my phone has been buzzing non-stop

& each birthday wish made me smile! Thank you to all of you! 

Just like every year, none of of my guests allowed the birthday girl to go home sober. 

Who made this rule anyway? You must be a sadistic prick or an alcoholic! 🙁

My 1st Flaming Lamborghini thanks to Pammy! 

My 2nd Flaming Lamborghini thanks to Venessa 

And all the other glasses of whiskey I had to skull 

I reckon I was pretty wasted, according to the stories that the rest recounted to me the next morning.

Apparently they mentioned I landed in a mamak and ordered Neslo. No memory found whatsoever 

Don't remember this photo at all. Geez!

Every birthday turned out a memorable one to me; this is no exception. 

However, I found my 23rd to be a "transition" from my usual party-rocking ones to a slightly more mature, chilled & relaxed one. 

Chilled? Relaxed? Really? 

My dishevelled & intoxicated self begs to differ.

Obviously, I'm referring to the birthday dinner I held at Antipodean 😀 

That one was a very relaxed, mellowed & "old woman" one, methinks. How unbecoming of me!

But then.. there's always the after-party.

Don't think I'll ever get tired of it! 😛   

Happy Birthday to me! Till next year 😀

So many of my friends, family and readers alike kept telling me that I'm on a billboard and a cinema ad.

All throughout last month & this month, it was all "Jess, I saw you on the ad!" "Jessicat, saw your picture on the billboard!" "Jessica, you're on a giant ad!" "Jessie, saw you in cinema!"

And guess what?

I haven't seen ANY of them with my very own eyes. How sad 🙁

I headed up to Penang a few weeks back, but still couldn't find the time to go see those ads.

So now that I'm in Penang, I took the chance and made a point to go to Gurney Drive-Sunrise Tower cross-junction (previously a roundabout) to see those ads I was featured in. 

I jawdropped when a reader sent this to me. Wow. Thank you so much! 🙂

Being featured on a giant billboard along a busy road at a very prominent intersection left me awestruck!

Hey, it isn't everyday you get people you don't know emailing/tweeting/telling you they saw you on an ad.

This was also sent by someone else. Thank you, too!

I happened to be on on the way to attend Hennessy Artistry Penang last weekend and the people in the coach with me were like, "JESSICA! LOOK LOOK LOOK! IS THAT YOU!?" 

Heh. Yeah, it is. That's me.

So that's it for the giant billboard.

Here's a photo of the cinema advertisement sent to me too. Thanks a lot 

KDU Advertisement in Golden Screen Cinemas

Wow, I must say, she has pretty good eye and quick reaction to whip out her camera to snap this photo.

It went by pretty fast! Lots of people told me they couldn't take the photo in time to show me.

Speaking of which, I just remembered I was on their brochure advertisement too

So yeah. That's my story.

Also, many post-high school kids and teenagers got interested and personally asked me what Mass Communication in KDU was like. Right. Looks like I became a walking billboard after that as well 😛

Spent my 2.5 years of my life as a college kid here!

Here's my answer, with no biasness whatsoever. 

In all honesty, I think KDU's Mass Communication programme is a very comprehensive one and taught me all the basic skills I needed to know to tackle real world challenges. Perfect for anyone who wants a good and solid kick-start to learning the ropes of the industry, for people who want to sharpen their skills in knowing a little bit more about how things work in ALL sectors of mass communication.

I love most of my lecturers and I still keep in touch with them! How could you possibly forget the people who taught you so much? 

Now that I've been in the industry for several years now, I still remember what I was taught at KDU Penang! The subjects were very hands-on and interactive (not just boring ol' theory); we got to learn a lot and apply them immediately. Clearly, we had a great balance of work and play in KDU's Mass Communication department.

Academically, I worked hard at what I was studying as I had the passion for this line of work and knew exactly what I wanted to do to pursue my dream. My hard work paid off and I graduated with a CGPA of 3.9 out of 4.0. Thank you for the memories and impartation of skills and knowledge. I had a ball and I'm proud to be a KDU Mass Comm-er!

If you think they paid me for this blogpost, you're severely wrong.

This is entirely a genuine opinion and recommendation for tertiary education 

Now that this blogpost evoked some good memories circa 2007, lemme share some old photos here!

Some silly fun we got up to in class

In the Recording Studio!

With 2 of my classmates on one of our fieldtrips!

Became editor of a newspaper Journalism project we did – here's my finished product! 😀

Mentored a participant for the KDU DJ Talent Search

On our photography field trip in Campbell Street

My team and I for our Radio Show themed : Viva la Las Vegas!

Thebestfriend and I in class 😀

Our Mass Communications Club activities – SPLASH!

Our version of the Thai Songkran Water Festival

Working as a team!

After 2.5 long years, graduation day! Class of 2009 🙂

So happy to have graduated with a Distinction for my Diploma in Mass Communication

So yeah, that's my testimonial of KDU College Penang's Diploma in Mass Communication course.

I strongly recommend you this 🙂 Drive your dreams! 

I’m pretty sure most of you would already know that I’m constantly on the goal of becoming a skinnyb!tch, right?

In my context, I’m not referring to being stick-thin or aneroxic.

I strive to be extremely slim and slender, just as I was when I was 18/19 years old

You might think it’s impossible for a 23 year old to return to the body of an 18 year old, but trust me.

It IS possible.

My skinniest/slimmest year. Shot during Christmas in 2008

I have friends (models) who roughly share the same height as I do (some even taller!) and they weigh so much lesser than I do.

For those who don’t know, I stand at 170cm in height. This is the part where I debate with myself whether or not I should tell you my weight. Hmm..

Probably not 😛

In any case, I aim to be 55KG again. That was my optimum weight where I was so slim, toned and fit.

2 weeks ago, my buddies Venessa & Cheez suggested I attempt a detox diet programme with them.

You know, like, “Shall we do it together?”

I jumped on the bandwagon the very second I was asked.

Why, of course. I’d do anything to be a skinnyb!tch again 😀

Another detox to think about is the Coffee Enema detox. But that’s for another time.

So we headed straight for the markets & bought everything we needed for our healthy detox diet.

This diet isn’t just to rid your body of excess fat & toxins to aid weight loss but it also helps you clear your entire system, improve your complexion, cleanse your liver & so on.

All I can say is, my alcohol-drenched liver & tar-laden respiratory system will thank me for that!

So much love! 

I will now share my experience (and track my own progress) and hopefully, I am disciplined enough to endure the much-dreaded 10 days.

I believe you can too! 🙂

DAY 1 – DAY 3 (Cleansing Stage)

Purpose : Reduce rations of food to prepare the body to move from solid food to liquid food

Fruits, vegetables, nuts & course grains for ALL meals!

Minimal eggs (steamed/hardboiled)

No starch/refined carbohydrates! i.e : rice, bread, noodles

No tea & coffee

No seasoning except natural salt & pure honey

No oil!

Here’s what I did, separating my portions into 3 days so I get a balanced intake of different fruits & vegetables

Here’s a brief summary of what I ate:

Breakfast platter!

Fluffly scrambled eggs with broccoli and carrots

Snacking on pineapples!

Cherry Tomato ice blended juice

Hardboiled eggs with black pepper!

Bananas & watermelon make a good pair for lunch!

One of my faves – fresh coconut water!

Chopchopchopped fruits!

Giant plate of veggies for dinner!

Mashed potato with carrot slices

Stir fry potatoes, cherry tomatoes and onions

Green apple snack!

DAY 4 – DAY 6 (Fasting Stage)

Purpose : For slimming (3 days), better health (7 days) & chronic illness (14 days)

Drink only the prescribed fruits & vegetable juice for ALL meals (8 glasses a day)

Recipe : ONLY Carrot + cucumber + celery + green apple + beetroot + ginger slice

Drink it sip by sip.. slowly!

My buys and I at Cold Storage!

Shopping shopping!

Your buddies for 3 days. Give them a thorough juice

By the time I was in the middle of this stage, my spirit and willpower to go on dropped immensely.

I was miserable. I was weak. My cravings kicked in so badly. I was hungry for food that satisfies my tastebuds. I was yearning for something else to eat. I almost gave up.

But I didn’t.

Being on a liquid diet is not easy, just ensure you have more than enough a supply of your juice

Breakfast

Brought along my “lunch” with me when I’m on the go!

Be sure to drink MORE THAN 2000 ml everyday. 

I drank about 2500 ml per day, and that wasn’t enough for me at all. I was thirsty and hungry 🙁

DAY 7 – 10 (Recovery Stage)

Purpose : To prepare the body to return to its normal stage of solid food

Should you not do this properly, your stomach will risk aching & bloatedness

Day 7 : Fruit & vegetable juice and its pulp/remains from juicing

Day 8 : Uncooked fresh fruits & vegetables

Day 9 : Cooked vegetables & mushy food i.e : mashed potato, mashed fruits & vegetables

Day 10 : Simple/easy-to-digest meat i.e : fish

Arriving this stage fueled my motivation to finish it all the way.

At last! I was able to eat solid food again, goodbye to the horrid liquid diet that puts you off after a day.

Blended fruits & vegetables (with pulp) for Day #7!

Broiled broccoli and carrots with lots of garlic, onions & basil!

Breakfast platter!

Water stir-fry veggies and mushrooms!

Fruit juice & pulp!

Scrambled eggs with bok choy and brinjals!

Lunch platter!

About to make my pumpkin and vegetable stew for Day #9!

Lovely! My overnight slow-cooked pumpkin & vegetable stew is ready to be eaten

Orange, carrot & papaya juice!

Scrambled eggs with spinach and button mushrooms

Steamed fish with vegetables for Day #10!

Smoked salmon slices!

I can’t believe I did it. Enduring the 10 days of detox food was ironically, an enjoyable torture.

It deprives/hurts/frustrates so good ‘cos you know you’re doing your body a great favour! 😀

Throughout the whole 10 days, ensure you drink PLENTY of water to flush out whatever you’ve detoxified & sleep before 12am. For my dear readers who lead an active nightlife, this will be the hardest part.

NO SMOKING. NO ALCOHOL. NO SHISHA. NO GREENS. NO PILLS.

(basically anything toxic)

If I can do it, so can you! Remember, this is a VERY strict 10-day diet

The results? I feel healthier, lost a few kilograms, learnt so much about healthy living & healthy eating

I dare you to take on the challenge!

Being the shopaholic I am, I'm always on the prowl to sniff out good shopping buys and bargains.

Some time back, I chanced upon this online retailer-marketplace-community driven website which has that and so much more!

FRIENDLYFASHION.MY

The name speaks for itself, this online marketplace really IS friendly! 

You sell, swap or give away your preloved clothes, shoes, accessories and make friends with similar fashionistas & shopaholics in the community as well! 

When you enter their website, this is what you will see before you begin your shopping spree!

So much awesome stuff on sale! 

To see more, you can sign up to be a member by creating an account.

For me, I took the easy way and signed in via Facebook 🙂 No hassle!

I've added these to my 'favorites' list before I make my final decision!

Can you guess which 3 items I made mine? 😀

The purchasing process was easy peasy lemon squeezy!

All you have to do is click on the item you want and hit the 'I WANT IT!' button and you will be taken to the page where you can send a message the owner of the item.

Just tell her/him that you want it and if it's still available, you can be sure it'll be yours 😀

My experience with them was a very prompt response towards my queries and a smooth, fast transaction.

In less than a week, Mr. Postman rang my doorbell and I received 3 parcels!

I came back inside all excited! Can't wait to open 'em.

And thank you buddy Pammy for helping me take photos of me unwrapping the parcels 😀

Who doesn't love presents? 😀

Now, let's check out parcel #1:

A sheer, rock n' roll skull-motif sleeveless tee from Topshop!

Unboxing!

Love it!

Wore it yesterday on a dinner date and shopping sesh with theboyfriend at Paradigm Mall!

Putting on my rockstar face for the day 😛 😛

Yeah, I had a haircut. Don't ask.

Shall blog about my nightmarish hair experience soon!

Now, let's check out parcel #2:

A fuschia heart-shaped pair of sunglasses!

Unwrapping….

Unboxing…..

Yay! How'd you like it? 😀 

It's absolutely gorgeous… I love it heaps. So chic!

The journey towards Straits Quay in Penang to attend Hennessy Artistry Penang 2012 was rather sunny.

So… what could be better than wearing your newest, funky pair of shades? 😉

They match my hair in some ways too 😀 😀 

Now, let's check out parcel #3:

A multi-coloured leopard short dress/long top!

Unwrapping….

Oooh wow! A lovely thank you note too 😀

I wore it during the press conference I attended in Penang

Although it was more of a summer beach colourful dress kinda thing, all I had to do to give it a corporate-trendy look was to slap on a chic blazer, pair it with a dark grey denim & a matching pair of kicks.

Lovin' the get-up! 

Those are only 3 items out of the amount of items the peeps on FriendlyFashion has got to offer!

How about you boys who keep whining about how there are so many online blogshops selling girls clothing/shoes/accessories but not mens? Well look no further, FriendlyFashion has a category for guys too.

Watch out, lads! I will be selling off an entire suitcase full of mens

clothing & accessories there soon! 

So you know what to do. JOM let's go shopping on a great budget $$$$$$$$

You can check them out on Twitter at @myfriendlyfash or head on to their website at www.friendlyfashion.my

Happy shopping everybuddy!

Don't say I didn't share good buys